It is common to ship products over vast distances by ground, sea and/or air transportation. In many instances, the products being shipped are placed in containers. When the products are not temperature-sensitive, there is typically no need to provide the containers with temperature control systems. When the products are temperature-sensitive, it is necessary to maintain a substantially uniform and constant temperature to avoid spoilage. As a result, thermal shields are often placed on top of the products. Many designs for thermal shields have been considered.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,100,016 to Wischusen discloses insulation material configured to provide improved insulating properties in a shipping container. An insulated bottom section is placed along the bottom of a container under the contents of the container. An insulating blanket constructed of plastic sheets sealed to form pouches for containing paperboard and mineral wool is configured to have an inverted U-shape and is placed over a bottom half of the container. A top half of the container is then placed over the bottom half such that the legs of the inverted U-shaped material are between the overlapping sides of top and bottom of the container and the middle portion of the U-shaped material is between the top of the container and the contents within the container.
Although thermal shields have been considered, improvements are desired. It is therefore an object to provide a novel thermal shield for maintaining a generally constant temperature.